The Hidden Threads exhibition opened to about 40 people at the Cromwell Museum on Thursday last week. The occasion also included updates and discussion about the Cromwell Chinese Settlement which will link to the exhibit’s displays.
Lawrence Chinese Camp Charitable Trust chairwoman and keynote speaker Denise Ng said she was thrilled by the Hidden Threads exhibit and the potential of the settlement project.
"They’ve really looked at the people [and] making it real, rather than just facts and figures."
The exhibit highlighted the ways in which the Chinese were part of the Cromwell community and their contribution to it, she said.
New Zealand Chinese stories were now part of the school curriculum and the world was more open to inclusion and diversity, which made the project possible, she said.
"It’s really good we’re starting to recognise that all of the communities in New Zealand are Kiwis."
"We’re all part of New Zealand’s fabric and its culture."
Paperwork is being finalised for the next phase of the settlement, the physical development of the site and adopting technology to support the settlement.
The settlement will be based near the lake edge off Melmore Tce, as the original Chinese settlement was inundated when the Lake Dunstan was filled in the 1990s.
Cromwell and Districts Community Trust chairwoman Ali Ballantine said the project had come about following consultation from the Cromwell community.
"The community told us that they particularly wanted to celebrate Cromwell’s rich heritage — and that includes the heritage of the Chinese community."
"People know that it was part of our history and I think [now] people are more willing to engage with it," Ms Ballantine said.
The settlement would include a recreated miner’s hut and footings of the buildings and the trust hoped to offer educational materials in several languages.
Ms Ballantine said the the location would provide a link with the future Cromwell Museum and Events Centre in Melmore Tce.
When complete, the Cromwell Chinese Settlement could form part of the proposed Golden Highway, a project mooted by Ms Ng’s father, Dr James Ng, which aimed to link Chinese gold mining sites across Otago and Southland.
Ms Ng was now reigniting her father’s project along with Dunedin tourism operator Neil Harraway.
"Throughout the region, we’ve got all of these different [historic] places ... but they’re all kind of just disparate areas," Ms Ng said.
"We want to bring that together into one network."
She said the project would benefit the region’s tourism as well as being a valuable educational resource.
Ms Ng was eager to see how different areas would interpret the highway, "because this is a project for everyone in the region and beyond".
She envisioned the project stretching throughout Dunedin, Central Otago, Southland and the West Coast. Access to the highway would be possible physically and digitally.
But the project was under development and needed community backing.
"We just need people who can bring us help in all the different aspects that come into play to make this happen ... we need people of passion and foresight."
